Lack of
by volian
Summary: Goku was a clingy sleeper.  Oneshot, SanzoGoku.


LACK OF  
_fanfic by volly  
saiyuki (c) kazuya minekura _

... 

...On second thought, maybe he should stick to food next time, Hakkai mused wryly as he glanced over at his young pupil. Goku had pressed his face snugly against the older man's shoulder, deep in the throes of slumber even as his arms tightened around Hakkai's neck. 

The thing was, Sanzo hadn't been really specific in what exactly he wanted Hakkai to teach the mysterious five-hundred-year-old amnesiac. And Goku just didn't seem to get the hang of mathematics, even when Hakkai had replaced the unripe oranges with meatbuns. _Especially_ when he'd replaced the oranges with meatbuns. 

So he'd picked out a few tomes from the monastery's library to educate the teen in history, instead. Personally, he found _Fengshen Bang_ to be an extremely engrossing read, but it seemed Goku had thought otherwise. 

The kid in question shifted suddenly--hopefully, to at least loosen his choking embrace, Hakkai thought. But he was sadly disappointed when Goku just mumbled something unintelligible into the fabric of his shirt and resumed his nap, golden eyes still firmly shut. 

Hakkai shrugged and supposed he'd better get comfortable. He just hoped Goku wouldn't drool too much on his clothes, he'd washed them just yesterday. 

...

They didn't often camp out in Jeep. They were usually able to find a town to spend the night, sometimes in the most unbelievable places. But Gojyo wasn't picky. He could make do with Jeep's weather-beaten seats and the open night air just as well as a decent inn's mattress. Though that didn't stop him from complainingly loudly to the others for the lack of decent female company, but he digressed. 

There was just one thing that was less-than-pleasant about sleeping in the car. Namely, the dozing monkey stubbornly attached to his arm. Goku was a clinger, the kappa recalled, remembering how the kid would always be found snuggling his pillows in death-grips every time Hakkai came into his hotel room to wake him up for breakfast. It was an amusing enough image then, but now, with a clear lack of pillows in sight, Gojyo couldn't say he found the scene very entertaining. 

The man sighed and tipped his head back to glare at the crescent moon. His fingers twitched. He really wanted a cigarette, but doubted he could light up, seeing how Goku was cutting off circulation to his left hand, the moronic monkey. 

...

How the fuck did he find himself in _this_ sort of situation? And he'd made sure to lock the door, too, seeing how those nagging priests kept complaining about him using the air conditioning even after he'd gone through hell and high water on that goddamned journey two months ago... 

Sanzo's sweeping gaze fell upon the open window and his scowl deepened. It was exactly the right height for an enterprising monkey to clamber through, if he scaled that spindly persimmon tree just outside and jumped in from the far branches. Damned persistent ape, Sanzo thought, and groped over for the paper fan that ought to be lying on the ground with his outer robes a few feet away. Funny, where was it? He'd probably left it on the desk, the monk decided, and settled for glaring down at the impertinent kid's stupid slumbering face. 

...He really should stop calling him that. Goku was already pushing twenty, after all. But when he was still asleep like this, the years just fell away from his peaceful face and sometimes he almost resembled the clueless youkai child Sanzo had brought down from Mount Gogyou that many years ago. With daifuku cheeks and a content half-smile on his lips and a messy fringe of hair falling over his brow that Sanzo reached out to brush away before realizing what exactly he was doing. He pulled his hand quickly back, grimacing at himself. What the hell? 

Idiotic monkey, he said to himself, but the sentiment was halfhearted at best. Goku looked quite childish, curled up into himself like that, just about three feet away from the priest's tatami. He was hugging himself, Sanzo noted curiously, as if he was freezing cold. Which could hardly be the case in Chang'An summer, but...Goku was a clingy napper, wasn't he? Images flashed into mind, of the teenager strangling his pillows, squeezing Gojyo's arm, attaching himself to Hakkai's side and drooling onto the older man's shirt. Goku had always been a rather physical sort of guy, even while awake, so it made Sanzo wonder why exactly he was keeping his distance now. 

Sanzo blinked as he noticed that Goku's eyes were now wide open, the younger man staring shamelessly at him with quiet intensity. The monk's appraising look quickly shifted into his customary glare. "What," he snapped. 

"Nothin'," Goku said. A pause, then, "Sanzo, you mad?" 

"Should I be?" 

The monkey shrugged. Sanzo sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "It's too hot to be angry," he muttered dismissively, and could sense that Goku was beaming. There was a moment more of short silence, but then he could hear the shuffle of fabric as the younger man ventured closer. Sanzo cracked open one eye to see Goku on his knees just inches before him, blinking down at him with a questioning look. 

"The hell d'you want." 

His irritated question prompted a hesitant grin from the other. Goku tugged idly at a strand of brunet hair, looking rather sheepish when he replied, "Ah, I was just wonderin'. Could I touch you?" 

That took Sanzo by surprise. Since when did Goku ever ask permission before mercilessly invading the priest's personal space? He thought of Goku and Hakkai on the couch, Goku and Gojyo in the back seat of the Jeep. And here he was now. Keiun Temple, in the very heart of the hot season, when even the most diligent monks found it difficult to practice mantras or even just stay awake in the stifling heat. And Goku was still looking at him with that damned oblivious expression on his face, but hopeful, like a puppy asking to be let in out of the rain. 

"Do as you'd like," Sanzo grumbled, pressing a hand to his forehead in exasperation. Goku grinned and settled himself on the bamboo mat, laying down to press his body almost flush against Sanzo's back. The monk felt himself stiffen subconsciously, but Goku didn't seem to notice as he made himself comfortable at Sanzo's side. 

...He was really very close, Sanzo thought. Close enough for the blond to feel Goku's exhalations on his arm, close enough for his body temperature to have hiked up considerably, close enough for Sanzo to start harboring second thoughts about his careless answer. 

But he supposed it was too late now. Goku's arms slide shyly around Sanzo's waist and he hummed happily as he tucked his head against Sanzo's shoulder, his bangs tickling the hollow of Sanzo's throat. There was a minute of Goku wriggling a bit more to get cozy, before the monkey was apparently satisfied and stilled. Then it was quiet again, except for the whisper of the electric fan and the chirping of cicadas in the trees and the rhythm of Goku's deep breathing while his heart beat almost in time with Sanzo's. 

It was when Sanzo finally relaxed--and privately thought that he could probably get used to something like this--that Goku moved again, leaning up a bit to plant a gentle kiss to the nape of the monk's neck, his lips stretched in a smile. Sanzo felt his eyebrow twitch but just decided to let it be. It was too much trouble, he reasoned, to get to his feet and fetch the idiot fan and beat the stupidity out of the scrawny chimp, if such a thing was even possible in the first place. 

"Why me?" he complained to nobody in particular. 

"'Cos," Goku mumbled in drowsy reply, "no one else compares." Sanzo craned his head back but couldn't bite back a rueful smirk when he saw the younger man's eyelids drop shut in sleep again. 

Well, he supposed that was as good a response than any. 

...

_author's notes_ - ahah, 39 was my otp from the moment i read saiyuki years ago, but i never got to write anything for it 'till now. :D hakkai's section: pre-journey, gojyo's: during journey, sanzo's: post-journey. 


End file.
